Anti-mutant protests and rallies began springing up all over the United States, and often turned violent. During the March for Purity on Washington, D.C., mutants right advocate Dr. Henry McCoy was savagely beaten to death by anti-mutant protesters.[1]

Albany

Anti-mutant sentiment finally gained legal traction after a young mutant girl'spowers manifested in a fiery explosion. Reports say the explosion looked like a Phoenix. The explosion leveled Albany, New York and killed approximately 600,000[2] To this day, mutants around the world still recognize Albany as a pivotal event.[3]

Historical Log 3C: Mutant-Hunting Exonims begin "The Decimation"

The Decimation

Exonims went into mass production and began running operations (such as Clean-Sweep,[4][5][6]Pig Iron[7] and Red Hot[5][8]) to round up mutants and human relatives of mutants. Mutants were arrested or killed on site. In the months that followed, the mutant population dropped drastically. This sharp decline in the mutant population became known as "The Decimation".[8]

Historical Log 4D: Fantastic Four arrested

With mutants being executed by the thousands in places like Alcatraz[3] and by Exonims in the streets, human families of mutants were next to be targeted. X-Gene carriers were offered one of two options: sterilization or imprisonment. Researchers were even commissioned to develop a "cure" for mutancy.[3]

In other countries, mutants did not fair any better. The United Kingdom attempted to exile their mutant population to a small island off of the north coast of Ireland. However, the ships never made it to their destination: One was bombed by Irish separatists, most of them turned back, and the last was liberated by the Mutant Liberation Front and most of the mutants escaped into Canada and the United States.

Following these numerous terrorist acts by Magneto and his followers, the U.S. government assembled an elite team of hero humans to hunt down these last mutants. The new team was dubbed The Avengers.[10]

The Avengers were tasked with penetrating Fortress X and detonating a nuclear device to wipe out the mutants. However, the Avengers experienced a change of heart after witnessing the plight of the mutants in Fortress X, and reneged on their mission. They died fighting to stop the Hulk from detonating the bomb, and inadvertently gave the mutants the key to their survival. Having witnessed Susan Storm using her force-field powers, a group of telekinetic mutants that would become known as the Force Warriors used their powers to replicate hers and create a barrier around Fortress X to ward off human attackers. [11]

The Siege of Fortress X

The human forces immediately laid siege to Fortress X. For 1000 days, the US military would spend hours each day breaking down the barrier surrounding Fortress X, and the mutants protecting the fortress would fight them off while the Force Warriors re-applied the barrier. However, the residents of Fortress X began to realise that something was was wrong. Basilisk, a Fortress X mutant who collected dog-tags he claimed from the bodies of soldiers he had killed, found a dog-tag identical to one he had collected months ago, belonging to two completely different people. The biggest hint that something was wrong came when Katherine Pryde, a mutant with the ability to phase through matter, exited the barrier with a camera to take pictures of the outside world. The pictures were blank, and Katherine claimed that the world outside of the barrier didn't exist. [12][13]

This led to dissent inside of Fortress X, as Legacy began investigating the curious events against Magneto's express wishes, with the help of Gambit. Magneto seemingly killed the two, crushing them under a ton of rubble, but in fact staged their deaths and secured them underground, so that they could investigate the matter without everyone else finding out. Magneto had been disturbed by the discovery of a room detailed in the plans for Fortress X that he himself had no memory of. He dispatched Gambit and Legacy to find the room. Inside the room they found a box containing the universe itself, realising that the fabric of reality had been altered.[14][15]

Reality Crumbles

While Gambit and Legacy searched for the hidden room, Magneto entered the brig and liberated Katherine Pryde and awoke Charles Xavier, a telepathic mutant kept in an artificial coma. The reason for this was because telepaths remembered reality as it had been before it was altered. Just as Xavier was about to explain everything to Magneto, Magneto was knocked out by the Force Warriors, who declared Magneto a traitor and assumed control of Fortress X. [15]

Meanwhile, Gambit and Legacy were confronted by Moira, who revealed that she was behind the alteration of reality. Outside the Fortress, the mutants had assembled to fight off the human coalition forces just as they did every day. Only this day, the humans didn't show up. Tired of taking orders and determined to get to the bottom of the mysteries plaguing Fortress X, Basilisk disobeyed orders and went in search of answers, with more and more mutants following him. [16]

Xavier proceeded to telepathically reveal the truth to everyone. That David Haller, a member of the Force Warriors, was his son and that the entirety of Fortress X was his creation. In the old reality, Xavier and Doctor Nemesis had been attempting to cure David of his multiple-personality disorder by surgically removing the personalities from David's mind. This caused the emergence of a new, reality-warping personality that assumed the shape of Moira Kinross and altered reality, creating the world of Fortress X where David was a beloved hero. Xavier revealed that rather than 1000 days, no more than 7 days had actually passed. [14]

Enraged at the mutants disobeying her, Moira suddenly created a massive human army that began assaulting Fortress X. Moira went to destroy the box containing the rest of reality while the mutants fought the invading army, but was stopped by Katherine Pryde, who stole the box before Moira could toss it into a fire. As Moira knocked out Katherine, along with Xavier and Magneto, David appeared. Moira pleaded with him to give her another chance to create a new, better reality, but David instead re-absorbed her and her powers. Using the ability to warp reality, David restored it to its original state. [17][15]

Aftermath

When David restored reality to its original state, the process was not fault-free. Everyone maintained their memories of the altered reality, and some such as Chamber, Nightmare and Revenant were changed as a result of the reality alteration. Most chose to have their memories of Fortress X and the altered reality expunged, returning to their old selves, while others such as Frenzy and Legacy chose to keep their memories. [16][18]

Destruction

It was later revealed that the reality lived on but was destroyed by the Incursions phenomenon.[19]

Notes

Prior to being given an official reality number, this universe was known as Earth-TRN016 as part of our Temporary Reality Numbers classification system.

Trivia

Because Wanda Maximoff died before decreeing "No more mutants" on M-Day, numerous mutants retained their X-Genes and powers. The Decimation was on this world caused by anti-mutants operations, wiping out most of the mutant population.

Telepaths were the only individuals unaffected by Legion's reality warp, which is why they were kept from using their powers in the new reality.